Machine for recovering precious metals



June 26, 1962 H. BRUNEAU 3,040,885

MACHINE FOR RECOVERING PRECIOUS METALS Filed June 10, 1959 2Sheets-Sheet 1 O Q I O 33 l3 I5 [43 I6 37 HENRY L. BRUNEAU ATTORNEYSJune 26, 1962 H. L. BRUNEAU MACHINE FOR RECOVERING PRECIOUS METALS 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 10, 1959 U A .E u N U 8 4 M W 2 4 m 6 1 L 7 MW3 2 H 7.1 2 5 5 N E 3 w 3 2 w 8 H 6 6 3 7 4 8 a 7 2 2 l @HIHIH.

ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,040,885 MACHINE FOR RECOVERING PRECIOUSMETALS Henry L. Brnneau, 5326 SE. 69th Ave, Portland, Oreg. Filed June10, 1952, Ser. No. 819,473 3 Claims. (Cl. 209-44) The present inventionrelates to a machine for recovering precious metals, such as gold,platinum and the like, from sand and gravel.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a power operatedmachine for recovering gold, platinum and the like from sand and gravelwherein the material to be separated is fed into the machinecontinuously.

Another object of this invention is to provide a precious metalrecovering machine that is portable and that can be operated by oneindividual in the field of operation.

A further object of this invention is to provide a precious metalrecovering machine that can be operated with a minimum amount of water.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a precious metalrecovering machine that will separate the gold or platinum from the sandwith one operation, this operation allowing the sand and gravel to flowdownwardly, while the precious metals are caused to flow upwardly byaction of the machine and then trapped by riffies.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent in the followingspecification when considered in light of the attached drawings, inwhich:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the structure of FIGURE 1, with parts brokenaway for convenience of illustration;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary enlarged vertical sectional view, taken online 3-3 of FIGURE 2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged transverse sectional view, taken on line 4-4 ofFIGURE 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged transverse sectional view, taken on line 5-5 ofFIGURE 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged fragmentary detail view of the mechanism foragitating the precious metals;

FIGURE 7 is a view similar to FIGURE 6, with the parts in a secondposition;

FIGURE 8 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on line 88 ofFIGURE 3, looking in the direction of the arrows.

FIGURE 9 is a fragmentary perspective view of one of the precious metalrecovery riflles; and

FIGURE 10 is a fragmentary enlarged detail of the locking device forrendering the oscillation of the trays inoperative.

Referring now to the drawings in detail wherein like referencecharacters indicate like parts throughout the several figures, thereference character M indicates generally a machine for recovery ofprecious metals.

The machine M includes a fixed horizontal base 10 having a generallyhorizontal base 11, adjustably supported and mounted thereon byadjustable screws 12. The screws 12 provides means to level the machineM when in operation.

Extending upwardly from and adjacent one end of the base 11 are legs 13removably secured thereto. Bearings 14 fixed to the upper end of thelegs 13 have journalled therein a horizontally disposed shaft 15. Theshaft 15 is revolved by a motor 16 through the countershaft 17 which isjournalled on the legs 13 by bearings 18. The countershaft 17 is drivenfrom the motor 16 by a belt 19 and the shaft 15 is rotated by a V-beltpulley 20 from a belt 21 driven by the countershaft 17. This providesthe proper speed reduction and drive for the shaft 15. The operation ofthe shaft 15 will be described later.

An inclined oscillating elongated tray 22 is supported on the base 11 ona pair of vertically disposed legs 23 made from a resilient material.The lower ends of the legs 23 are bolted to the base 11 at 24, while theupper ends of the legs 23 are bolted to the brackets 25 fixedly securedto the bottom 26 of the tray 22, as best illustrated in FIGURES l, 3 and5.

A second elongated tray 27 is dispoed above the tray 22 and isoppositely inclined to the tray 22 and is supported upon the legs 28 and29. The legs 28 and 29 are fixedly secured to the upper side walls ofthe tray 22 at their lower ends and their upper ends support the tray 27on stub shafts 30 passing through the legs 28 and 29, as bestillustrated in FIGURES l and 5.

An oscillating movement is imparted to the trays 22 and 27 by action ofan eccentric cam 31. A shaft 32- is fixedly secured to the tray 22 on apair of brackets 33. Rotatably mounted on the shaft 3-2 is a roller 34,preferably somewhat resilient in nature such as rubber. The cam 31 iskeyed to cross shaft 15 and revolves therewith in the operation of themachine. The cam 31 imparts an oscillating movement to the trays 22, 27through the roller 34 and cross shaft 32. Referring to FIGURE 7, it willbe noted that there is a slight clearance between the cam 31 and theroller 34 when the cam is in the position illustrated. The purpose ofthis clearance is to provide a throwing action to the oscillatingmovement of the trays 22, 27, the purpose and object which will bedescribed later on.

The resilient legs 23 normally position the trays 22, 27 as shown inFIGURE 7 when the cam 31 is in the position illustrated. This providesfor the clearance existing between the roller 34 and the cam 31.

Sheets 35 resembling a wafile in structure, preferably of a resilientmaterial such as rubber, are located on the bottoms 26 and 26A of thetrays 22 and 27, as best il' lustrated in FIGURES 2, 3, 8 and 9. Thesheets 35 have riflles in the form of pockets 36, in which the preciousmetals are trapped when being separated from the sand or gravel. Locatedabove the sheets 35 are metallic screens 37, which prevent oversizedrock from entering the rifiles 36.

Located adjacent the lower end 38 of the tray 27 is a mercury containingtray 39. A hopper 49 is located on the upper end of the tray 27 andlocated Within this hopper is a horizontal transverse water spray nozzle41 for sluicing the ore down tray 27. This nozzle receives a highpressure water supply from a pump 42 through flexible piping 43 and acontrol valve 44. The pump 42 receives its supply from a supply line 45from a source of water (not shown). The pump 42 is driven from theengine 16 by belt 46.

A rock and sand delivery chute 47 is formed on the lower end of the tray22, as best illustrated in FIGURES 1 and 2. -In order to render theoscillating of the trays inoperative while still allowing the engine 16to operate, a locking dog 48 engages against the end 49 of one of thebrackets 25, as best illustrated in FIGURE 10'. This will hold theroller 34 away from contacting the eccentric cam 31. In order to set thetrays 22, 27 into oscillating opera-tion, the dog 48 has to be moved tothe full line position in FIGURES 2 and 10, permitting the roller 34 toengage the periphery of the cam 31.

The method of operation of this new and improved precious metal recoverymachine will now be described. Gravel, sand and precious metals mixedtherewith are placed into the hopper 40 while the trays 22 and 27 areoscillating. The gravel and sand will be washed down over the screen 3'7and the rir'fies 36 of the tray 27 over the end 38 on to the mercurytray 39 from where it will wash over on the screen 37 and the rifiies 35of the tray 22 and out the discharge spout 47.

The precious metal, such as gold, will be trapped in the pockets 36 ofthe sheets 35 from where it can be recovered later. Any fine preciousmetals that would tend to flow down with the sand or gravel will betrapped in the mercury tray 39, also any of the precious metal escapingbeyond this tray will be further trapped on the sheet 35 of the tray 22.

Referring particularly to FIGURE 7, it will be noted that there is aclearance between the roller 34 and the cam 31. This clearance causes athrowing or pitching action to the oscillation of the trays. Thispitching action causes the precious metal to tend to travel upwardlyover the rifiies in a direction opposite to the gravel so as to betrapped therein.

Having thus described the preferred embodiments of the invention, itshould be understood that numerous structural modifications andadaptations may be resorted to without departing from the scope of theappended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A separator for removing precious metals from sand and gravelcmprising a fixed base, a second base adjustably supported on said fixedbase, a tray, a pair of resilient legs extending between and connectedto said second base and said tray supporting said tray in overlyinginclined position over said second base, a second tray overlying saidfirst tray, means rigidly supporting said second tray from said firsttray with said second tray inclined oppositely of said first tray, saidsecond tray having the lower end portion thereof overlying anddischarging into the upper end portion of said first tray, and means onsaid second base for longitudinally oscillating said first tray therebyoscillating both trays, a plurality of longitudinally and transverselyspaced fiat bottom pockets formed in the lower surface of each tray, ascreen overlying said pockets, and an open top mercury container carriedby the upper end portion of said first tray and underlying the dischargeend of said second tray.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the means for oscillating saidfirst and second trays includes an eccentric cam, means for rotatingsaid eccentric cam, and resilient cam engaging means mounted on saidfirst tray for engaging said cam to thereby oscillate said trays, saidresilient cam engaging means being spaced from said 4 eccentric cam sothat the low dwell of said eccentric cam is out of contact With said cammeans whereby upon contact of the high dwell of said cam a jarringimpact is imparted to said resilient cam means and hence said trays.

3. A device for separating metal from sand and gravel comprising a fixedbase, a movable base mounted on said fixed base, means adjustablyinterconnecting the bases for levelling the movable base, a firstinclined tray, resilient means supporting the first inclined tray fromsaid movable base, a second inclined tray disposed in overlying relationto the first tray and inclined in an opposite direction, means rigidlysupporting the second tray from the first tray, the lowermost end of thesecond tray being disposed above and inwardly of the end of the firsttray, each of said trays having a bottom surface provided with aplurality of pockets therein, screen means overlying the pockets, waterdischarge means discharging Water into the upper end of the second tray,a mercury receptacle disposed below the lower end of the second tray forreceiving material discharged therefrom, said receptacle being supportedon said first tray at the upper end thereof and above the bottom, ashaft underlying said first tray adjacent the upper end thereof, aneccentric cam mounted on said shaft, drive means drivingly connected tosaid shaft, a resilient follower means carried by said first tray, saidfollower means being spaced slightly from the cam when the cam has thelow portion thereof facing the follower means whereby the cam Willimpart a jarring impact to the follower means and trays with subsequentrapid acceleration thereof for oscillating both trays simultaneously.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS237,300 McDermott Feb. 1, 1881 376,853 Campbell Jan. 24, 1888 392,860Gauthier Nov. 13, 1888 422,043 Stone Feb. 25, 1890 545,106 Spicer Aug.27, 1895 552,749 Curtis Jan. 7, 1896 749,578 Porter Jan. 12, 19041,118,128 Hedges Nov. 24, 1914 2,174,925 Mckeever Oct. 3, 1939 2,825,462Hackney Mar. 4, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 65,135 Germany Mar. 30, 1892

